From teacher to trailblazer: Comedian Mina Hartong filming Palm Springs special

For comedian Mina Hartong, known to fans as Miss Personality, this Friday (Jan. 17) will mark a milestone in her career as she takes the stage at Palm Springs’ Revolution Stage Company theater to film her highly anticipated comedy special.

With two shows slated for the evening, Hartong promises to bring the sharp wit and candid humor that have made her a favorite among audiences. She will be accompanied by introductions from musical legend Sweet Baby J’ai and comedian Robin Tyler.

Hartong was a finalist at the National Ladies of Laughter Contest. Curve Magazine named her one of America’s Funniest Lesbians, alongside comedy icons like Suzanne Westenhoeffer, Marga Gomez, and Karen Williams. She performed 10 sold-out shows in Palm Springs and developed a loyal fanbase with her production company Lez Out Loud.

“I chose Palm Springs to debut my comedy special because I have a wonderful audience which I built during my three years when I was living there during the pandemic,” she said. “That is the audience that helped me build this material into a full hour. I want them to be the first to see it.”

In the summer of 2020, she and her wife relocated to Palm Springs to escape the pandemic. “I was embraced when I moved there; nobody knew who I was, and I was able not only to do the comedy shows but build a brand that wouldn’t have been possible without them,” she said.

“I’m in comedy to raise the visibility of LGBTQ people and women. What I love about comedy is being able to hold the microphone and raise visibility through humor.” She’s since moved back to New York City.

Hartong writes her material solo. “If I have an idea, I write or record it into my phone for later,” she said. She counts Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin, and Lucille Ball as her comedic heroes.

She uses personal stories for her performances and experienced backlash on some topics, including LGBTQ issues. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, she performed gigs on what was called the LGBTQ circuit.

“You could perform at pride festivals and these kinds of places. Now, it’s a non-issue, but at that time, comedy producers would tell me, ‘You shouldn’t do lesbian material. You’re very good, but don’t do that material.’ I kept doing it,” she said. “I ignored that advice and kept going because this was my life, and comedians use that.”

Her comedy career started as a fluke in Amsterdam in 1994 when she was 25 years old.

“My dad was from Holland, so I went to visit my grandmother and ended up staying there for five years,” Hartong said.

“The Dutch people speak good English, so I performed at open mics in English, but because of the language barrier, I wasn’t aware that one of them was a contest. I told funny stories and won.”

“I’m in comedy to raise the visibility of LGBTQ people and women. What I love about comedy is being able to hold the microphone and raise visibility through humor.”

— Mina Hartong

From there, she went to London, Paris, and Copenhagen doing her stand-up comedy. Then she got a boost from talk show host Dick Cavett.

“I often host galas and fundraisers for causes close to my heart,” she said. She was emceeing a gala for Silver Hill Hospital at Cipriani’s in New York City in 2018, and they were honoring Cavett.

After the gala, when everyone was talking to Dick and taking photos, she said, “Dick leaned in and asked me quietly what I did. I said I am a teacher, and I do comedy on the side. He looked me right in the eye, pointed to the stage I had just been on, and said, ‘THAT is what you should be doing.’ And I never looked back.”

Hartong, who was raised in Greenwich, Conn., said she wasn’t always funny. “I was a sensitive kid,” she said. I had easy access to my emotions. I was known for storming out of a room dramatically.

“I have three brothers, so I was teased and, no, I wasn’t a joker or a clown or anything like that, but I was fierce in that I was outspoken, being the only daughter.”

To gain some financial security, she became a full-time theater teacher in public schools for 20 years but found that writing her act simultaneously was challenging, so she quit to focus on her comedy career.

She writes and performs about her personal life – to understand herself, her family, and her lesbian identity. “One of my friends said, ‘You talk about raunchy stuff, Mina, but you talk about it like you’re the school nurse, so it’s OK; you make it safe for us.'”

Hartong has no regrets about her choices. “I was a full-time teacher in the schools, and I thought I was going to do that until the end of my career,” she said.

“I was helping kids realize their dreams of acting, and I had this moment when I thought, well, you know, what about my dreams? I had a dream to be a comedian, and I let that go because teaching is hard and time-consuming.

“And I’m grateful for that moment I took a huge risk. I took a big pay cut, and I’ve no regrets. You have to be resilient, and you have to love what you do. You have to love it enough to keep doing it.”

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More information: While both of Hartong’s shows on Jan. 17 are currently sold out, the waiting list for cancellations will start 30 minutes prior to each performance (5slated for 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.). More information is available here.

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